HomesteadingChallenge - Why I started a Garden

Some will never care. For my husband and I, it was no different at one time. When it was time to eat, our choices were basically unlimited. What's for lunch..., what's for dinner..... and so on. Being trained, or programmed to believe in a system where literally everything you put into your mouth is considered food, makes life so convenient. Whether the ingredient list contained hydrogenated oils, artificial colorings, or claimed to be 100% organic, it was and still is accepted as food by the majority. But as time passed by, that "food" we were so happily ingesting started to affect us in ways we could and couldn't see. Once into our mid and late 30's we began to notice we weren't young anymore. The part of our bodies that used to deal with the brown bag special from Sonic or filter the gallons of corn syrup didn't seem to be functioning as they once did. Bloating, cramps, and other effects from our designated foodstuffs was making us rethink what we were doing to ourselves through eating.

Seeing an opportunity to start a new business, we took the risk. The new job would have us setting up shop and life in a rural area around North Texas and Oklahoma. Having lived in neighborhoods all of our lives and now experiencing a much more open community, as found in most small country towns, we started to see things differently. On any given day during the Spring through Fall months, it is almost impossible not to see a few home gardens as one takes a drive. These gardens were very appealing to me and gave me incentive. Then, after a few years of getting our business and lives established, we started a garden of our own. Ok, it was really only a raised bed or two and maybe a couple of trees, but to us it was a garden.

It has now been six years since we broke ground on the first raised bed. Our bodies have become accustomed to the real food we pick and dig from our plot. Not only have we decided to dedicate most of our free time to gardening, but also to learning why it is important to a fulfilling life, at least in our opinions. Not that everyone has to, or needs to have a garden. It's more along the lines of what having one can and will do to make one feel healthy and energy strong. Physically moving throughout the processes of building and maintaining a garden, as well as the nutrients we all gain from it, are more than enough reasons to build and maintain one. It has become tradition to expand the garden every Spring, or at least plant a handful of pollinator attractors or really anything beneficial. Basically, we started to understand how time is the best friend of the garden. It was very important to us to build beds and plant trees every year. But just as important not to plant too much. Because as we all know, we only learn more with time. The passing of the seasons will grade your work and give you advice. You just have to pay attention and observe. Looking at our garden as a canvas with no plan to complete, but rather just keep adding allows us to brainstorm throughout the year. When we started, we knew nothing about gardening. Now, after six years of hands-on experience and listening to hundreds of others with a similar mindset, I now know enough to share with others.

We are doing our part in trying to make this world a better place. Sharing some of our garden / homestead photos taken in the last couple of years below. Thanks for stopping by.